Following the release of the Xbox 360 and now that everyone can see just what it can do, the debates on the Xbox 360 v. the Playstation 3 have begun to spring up all over the net like wildfires. While much of the debate won’t be solved until closer to the Playstation 3’s launch when more is known, there are still enough revealed details about the PS3 to form a checklist of what appear to be strong advantages for the PS3 over it’s adversary, the Xbox 360. These advantages should be noted by all gamers prior to taking the plunge and dishing out the dollars to jump on the next-gen bandwagon prior to the next-gen competition being released.
Here are the things every gamer interested in buying a next-gen console should know:
1. Blu-Ray technology being used for the game drive. Indeed, while the fact that this drive has not yet been released is definitely a drawback, especially in combination with the “Cell� not hitting production yet, the possibilities of this drive make it very appealing. In contrast, the Xbox 360’s drive can currently only play standard DVD’s at only decent speeds, but the Blu-Ray technology can hold disks that hold as much as 5 times as much data as DVD’s and this data is all read at a much faster speed. Even better is that Blu-Ray technology can read DVD disks as well, allowing it to play PS2 games and movies in addition to the PS3’s own library of games.
2. The third party support and unique games. While the Xbox 360 will have its own impressive line-up of unique titles hitting the system, Sony still has plenty of great games that it has exclusive to its own next-gen console. Games such as Killzone 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots should not be overlooked by any means.
3. The “Cell.� While the Xbox 360 has a good processor, it is really not as impressive and doesn’t have nearly the potential of the Cell. While the true potential may not be seen for a long time (hopefully development will be completed sometime soon!), the Cell truly seems to be an amazing processor that will greatly improve the PS3’s stock in this epic console race.
4. Other PS3 hardware should also be given consideration. While Microsoft generally tends to go for standard hardware (good hardware, but standard), Sony is having a lot of its hardware custom made, which always helps the reliability of a console. Indeed, the Xbox 360 is much improved over the Xbox in this department, but Sony’s PS3 still has the hardware edge (despite claims from Microsoft that the Xbox 360 actually will outperform the PS3 – this remains to be seen).
5. Reliability. While this one is still up in the air, the advantage will most likely fall onto the PS3. The Xbox 360 has had numerous problems that gamers are furious about. No doubt that Microsoft will fix these problems soon, but the fact that they are there really hurts the reputation. Sony is always good at making sure they have a reliable product.
Another great article.
Excerpt from MadBum.com:
Sure, The Bum has ranted and raved about EA before, but now a serious issue has come to rise from this mockery of a gaming company. Their newest release, Battlefield 2, brings with it a deep, dark secret that will take you on a trip down to the darkest corners of dirty dealings in the gaming industry. Yes, enthralled listeners, you will now be informed of the latest in EA’s evil movements: selling out the Battlefield franchise and hence commencing the Battlefield 2 Conspiracy.
“What you don’t know can’t hurt you� seems to be EA’s motto year in and year out. Basically, if you don’t know of how crappy their games really are and how much of a sellout the company is, then you won’t get hurt by their flaming ninjas that will make a visit to your house if you question their motives in the least (don’t worry, The Bum is safe in his secret lair somewhere in the Caribbean…damn, I’ve already said too much).
But now, moving on with the conspiracy behind the game. Take a look at the graph above. A picture tells a thousand words, but I’ll go ahead and give you about 600 words about this in addition to the picture. Basically, EA has decided to go ahead and sell out to NVIDIA and make it so that their game won’t work on anything less than an FX 5700 graphics card when that same game will work on the Radeon 8200. WTF?! I mean, are you kidding? Just look at the graphs which mark the relative graphical processing capabilities of each card and even a kindergartener will start throwing out F bombs like nobody’s business. It is simply ridiculous, and EA has left yet another dark stain on gaming’s history.
To read the full article, click Here
A unique story in the world of gaming is that many companies are now offering Xbox servers. While those not in the know won’t realize the significance of this, those who realize what this means understand that having Xbox servers is a pretty pivotal achievement. Essentially, online console gaming is designed so that one player’s console would act as the host and the other player would connect to it to play (this has been slightly altered for Xbox Live which offers up to 32 players in some cases). Now, however, modded Xbox’s using Linux are being altered so that they can serve as dedicated servers, therefore lowering lag in great amounts in online games.
Online console gaming has always been plagued by frequent lag issues. But now that Xbox servers are being used basically as dedicated servers, online console gaming works with incredible ease and speed. Gamers are now able to play their favorite games, such as Halo 2, Ghost Recon 2, Project Gotham Racing 2, Rainbow Six 3, etc., all seamlessly and with little hassle or slowdown.
As usual with great achievements, however, are the obvious drawbacks that coincide with this. So far it is currently impossible for these Xbox servers to work over Xbox Live, meaning that, at least for now, gamers must use other forms of software. However, this is definitely not the worst thing in the world, since programs such as XBConnect have been around for years now, offering online play in any game that even has System Link capabilities (meaning that even the original Halo can be played online).
Hopefully the future will offer even brighter options for Xbox servers, mainly being compatibility with Xbox Live. For now, gamers can enjoy hooking up with friends and even meet new friends through programs such as XBConnect and play their games with little delay when using dedicated Xbox servers.
Video games and movies. These two markets would seem like they would be tightly interwoven, two that would promote each other and thrive in each other’s markets. However, video games being turned into movies have never seemed to turn out quite how they should. The track record for these transitions has been rocky to say the least, including sub par movies such as Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Super Mario Bros., Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, etc., etc.
Where do movie makers go wrong? That is a difficult question, but it usually involves the fact that there is too little information to build off of. When a company wants a movie made off of a game, they usually want that movie to be based strictly on the material in that game. Needless to say, games aren’t designed at the core to be movies and usually it is difficult to draw a lot of information out of a video game and turn that information into a movie.
This problem only compounds when considering that most fans of the video game will hate the movie right away since they feel it will only ruin the name of the game. This immediately creates and anti-movie movement and this cuts out the original fan base of the title. Additionally, casting a movie based on a video game can be incredibly difficult since no one can ever agree who would be perfect for the role. Needless to say, this creates a lot of problems in the long run.
Yet, despite all of this there are still countless numbers of games that are being turned into movies. Rainbow Six, Doom, Spy Hunter, Halo, and God of War are only a few of the games that are currently being turned into feature films. The question is, will these movies be able to break the mediocrity and set themselves free from the stereotypes? Will these finally be successful when so many others have failed? That remains to be seen.